It's Time to Legalize Marijuana

Paper Summary:

The paper decries the billions of dollars wasted on the government's un-winnable war on drugs, including marijuana, and contends that these funds could better be used in safeguarding the U.S. from far more serious criminals. The paper discusses the need for cancer patients to have access to marijuana and suggests that at least some marijuana should be available for medical usage. Statistics are revealed that show the enormous amount of arrests made each year for marijuana offenses that cause so many to be incarcerated in the prison system. The paper also stresses that there is still no definitive proof that marijuana is as dangerous or leading to the eventual switch to "hard drugs" as the pessimists in our society believe. Therefore, the paper argues that the government should call a truce in the case of marijuana in the war on drugs.

From the Paper:

"If the American public is outraged at the billions of dollars wasted on an un-winnable war in Iraq, they should be equally outraged at the billions spent on an un-winnable war on drugs with marijuana seen as the "stepping stone" to hard drugs. We have seen the Supreme Court now deny medical marijuana to a woman stricken with cancer. We see the legal system, jammed with court cases of people "caught" with a few grams of "pot." Prisons are filling up with non-violent pot smokers, bedded down with hardened criminals. And yet there is no definitive proof that marijuana is as dangerous or leading to the eventual switch to "hard drugs" as the pessimists in our society believe."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cloud, John: "Is Pot Good For You? Well, No. But the Latest Research Suggests the Health Risk from Occasional Use Is Mild, and It Might Ease Certain Ills" TIME Magazine, Nov. 4, 2002
• Consumer Reports Staff: "MARIJUANA AS MEDICINE: HOW STRONG IS THE SCIENCE? We Know More About Pot's Harmful Effects Than Its Beneficial Ones" Consumer Reports, May 1997.
• Dilanian, Ken: "Dutch Take a Sober Look at Marijuana Laws" Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 6, 2006
• Gillespie, Nick: "Legalizing Marijuana as Medicine Is a Positive Change in the War on Drugs"The War on Drugs. Ed. Stephen P. Thompson. Opposing Viewpoints(r). San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1998. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center.
• Harrington, Joe: "Legalizing Marijuana" KOLO (Reno) News www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/4300852.html

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